


can't you see, you belong to me

by xxPayne



Series: The Snowball [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/M, M/M, Middle School, Spoiler alert Mike goes to the Snowball with Will, Unrequited Love, it's mostly canon though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 15:46:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12684930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxPayne/pseuds/xxPayne
Summary: “You go to Snowball with someone that, you know, someone that you like.”Or, what would have happened if Mike and El weren't reunited before the Snowball.





	can't you see, you belong to me

**Author's Note:**

> (This is set just before the Snowball in season two, except El and Mike never reunited, and she closed the gate by herself. Also, let's pretend Jonathan wasn't at the Snowball.)  
> This is really exciting for two reasons! 1, I've never written fic for a show before, and 2, I don't usually write this much in one sitting, but I did! I hope you enjoy :)

Will has never met the mysterious Eleven. She supposedly saved his life, or at least helped. He’s still a little fuzzy on the details, but he can’t stand the look on his friends’ faces whenever they talk about El disappearing, so Will doesn’t ask. What he does know is that in the time Will spent in the Upside Down, Mike fell in love with her.

They’re having a sleepover, the four of them and their new addition, Max. She doesn’t play D&D, but she doesn’t mind watching, so that’s what they’ve been doing all night. Mike’s mom thinks they’ve all gone to sleep, but really they just shut the basement door and tried to keep their voices at a minimum—a difficult task for such an intense game.

They wrap it up somewhere around three in the morning, everyone falling asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow. Except Mike, which consequently makes Will force himself to keep his eyes open. He watches Mike crawl over to the little fort, fiddling with his walkie talkie for a moment. Mike scans the room one last time, so Will closes his eyes and even throws in a little snore for special effects. Satisfied that everyone is asleep, Mike whispers, “El? Are you there, El?”

Will’s chest feels a little too tight.

“El, if you can hear me—” Mike sighs. “It’s almost been a year now. I miss you…” His voice wavers. “I don’t know why I even _do_ this anymore. You’re—You’re gone, aren’t you? It doesn’t feel like you are, but—”

Dustin coughs and rolls over in his sleep, making Mike jump. He stays still for a moment, and then whispers, “Goodbye, El.”

Even after Mike has gone back to his sleeping bag and drifted off, Will stays up, thinking. Wherever El is, Will hopes she knows how lucky she is to have all of Mike’s love.

+

On the rare occasion that Max isn’t with the rest of them, Lucas lets loose all the thoughts that have been building up in his head. It usually goes like, “Did you see her hair, guys?” or “God, her smile.” or “Did you hear that? She said she likes when guys wear bandanas. _I_ wear bandanas!”

Today, it goes like, “At the Snowball, I’m finally making my move.”

Dustin huffs, although he knows as well as everyone else that Lucas and Max are good for each other.

Mike rolls his eyes. “No you won’t,” he says. “You’ve said you’ll make your move like twenty times now.”

“Well, this time I will,” Lucas says. When they all shoot him disbelieving stares, he narrows his eyes. “I will!”

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Mike says dismissively.

Will doesn’t know what makes the words come out, but somehow he finds himself asking, “Are you going?”

“To the Snowball?” Mike says, confused. “Course. Why?”

“Just wondering,” Will says meekly, although the gears are turning in his head.

+

Mike doesn’t talk about El very much. And since that night at the sleepover, when Mike said goodbye, he hasn’t tried to talk to her again, either. Will isn’t foolish enough to think that Mike is completely over her. He doesn’t know if he ever will be, especially since no one knows where she is and if she’ll ever come back. She closed the gate—it had to have been her—but it could have killed her, or worse, trapped her in the Upside Down with no way out.

Yet, Mike seems to move on. Things start to go back to the way they used to be, between Mike and Will, although nothing can ever truly be reversed. Mike doesn’t even get annoyed when Will wakes him in the night, screaming and thrashing around and convulsing like he’s being possessed all over again. He just puts his hands on Will’s shoulders and squeezes, asking him to _wake up, wake up, wake up,_ until he finally does, and then they remind each other that the monster is gone now until Will can fall back to sleep. They hang out, just the two of them, eating all the old Halloween candy that Joyce bought when it went on sale. They see movies together at Hawk after school, and then take the long way home on their bikes so they can discuss them. Joyce has started to let up a little on her no-bikes rule, as long as Will is never alone. It gives them more time to talk, and the more they talk, the more Will wants to _keep_ talking and never stop.

Will thinks he’s a little too young to be throwing around the words “in love”, but, well.

+

Asking Jonathan for advice means he has to _tell_ Jonathan. Thinking about it makes Will’s throat close up and his lungs suddenly feel too big for his chest. He remembers Jonathan saying, “ _Do you wanna be normal? Do you wanna be just like everyone else?”_ and repeats it in his head like a mantra.

“Jonathan?” he asks, knocking lightly on his brother’s door.

“It’s open!”

He steps inside, his hands trembling. Jonathan has a textbook laid over his lap and is writing something in a notebook, but he must read Will’s expression well enough to know that he needs his full attention. He closes the books and sets them aside, looking at Will concernedly. “Everything okay?” he asks.

Will nods, and then shrugs, and then shakes his head. “I-I need to tell you something.”

Jonathan pats the space next to him on the bed. Will has to force his limbs to move one by one, practically hearing his bones creak. _Do you wanna be normal? Do you wanna be just like everyone else?_

“Hey, come on, what happened?” the lines in Jonathan’s face deepen. “Is it the kids from school again?”

“No,” Will shakes his head. “It’s—It’s Mike.”

“Mike?” Jonathan raises his eyebrows. “What did he do?”

“Nothing,” Will says quickly, feeling frustrated with himself. _Say it, just say it._ “Mike—I want to—I want to go with him to the Snowball dance.”

Jonathan’s eyes drift down to Will’s shaking hands, and his face only grows more confused. “You can go to dances with friends, you don’t need a date. Why’s that a big deal?”

“But—But—” Will feels himself losing steam, his heart feeling ten times heavier than it did only a few minutes ago. “Because I—” He looks down at the sheet, away from Jonathan’s eyes, and takes a deep breath. “Because I want _him_ to be my date.”

There’s silence.

Will doesn’t take his eyes off the sheet. Jonathan still isn’t saying anything. Why isn’t he saying anything?

“Oh,” Jonathan says finally. “Does Mike, uh, feel the same?”

“I don’t know,” he says, his voice small. “Maybe? Probably not. Maybe.”

Sometimes, _sometimes_ , Will catches Mike’s eye just right, and he thinks he might feel the same way. When their hands brush as they reach for the popcorn at the same time, and Will giggles, and Mike smiles at him with _something_ in his expression. Or when Will confesses something about his time in the Upside Down, and Mike pulls him into a crushingly tight hug. There’s something there, but only sometimes.

“I think you should go for it,” Jonathan says, his voice gaining conviction. “Mike’s a good guy, a good friend. Even if he doesn’t, you know, want to be more than friends, I don’t think it would ruin anything for you two.”

“Really?” Will breathes, overwhelmed by the fact that not only does Jonathan not seem to care that Will is crushing on a boy, but also thinks he should _go for it_.

“Yeah, really,” Jonathan says, smiling.

+

Will refuses to plan this. He catches himself getting out a piece of paper and scribbling notes on it, but crosses all the words out and instead draws a picture underneath, of Mike in a suit and the glow of the lights shining all around him. He rips it to shreds when he’s done, but it gives him an idea.

He ends up surrounded by all 120 colors of crayons and a whole tree’s worth of crumpled up drafts. He feels frantic, his hair sticking up from running his hands through it so much. When he finally finishes, he has a solid page of comics featuring he and Mike.

 _So much for not planning this,_ he thinks.

+

Mike doesn’t understand it, Will can see it on his face. His eyes haven’t left the paper and he won’t look at Will.

“I, um, I know it’s not funny,” Will says. “Comics are supposed to be funny.”

“No, it’s—” Mike shakes his head. “This is really good. Your art, it’s good.”

Will doesn’t think he’s taken a single breath since handing his heart over to Mike Wheeler.

“There’s us in Kindergarten,” Mike smiles, pointing at the frame where Will is alone on the swings and Mike is approaching him. Will watches Mike’s finger drift from that comic to the next scene from the past, all the way to the bottom of the page. The Snowball. “I don’t—think I get it.”

Will wishes he could take it back, tear it out of Mike’s hands and forget that he ever drew this. He feels humiliated and small and so, so stupid. “It’s just—It’s the dance. I was—I don’t know. I wanted to go with you.”

Mike looks up, finally, a smile on the edge of his lips. “Yeah?”

A tendril of hope creeps up Will’s chest like the tentacles of a monster. “Yeah.”

“You could’ve just asked!” Mike laughs, bumping his shoulder into Will’s.

Will’s cheeks flush, but he’s so happy he thinks he could burst.

+

The gymnasium has been decorated to the nines, every inch covered in streamers or balloons or soft, twinkling lights. Mike’s eyes are bright and he keeps smiling widely at Will whenever they glance at each other. Will’s heart races every time.

They dance together to the fun, loud music, jokingly spinning each other around and laughing so hard their cheeks hurt. Dustin and Lucas and Max join them and then leave again after it becomes clear that Will and Mike aren’t interested in hovering awkwardly near the bleachers. It’s the most fun Will thinks he’s had since he returned.

The first hint that something might not be right is when the music shifts from an upbeat song to a slower ballad, prompting everyone to pair up with their dates. Mike turns as if to walk away from the dance floor. Will asks, “Don’t you want to dance?”

“To this song?” Mike scrunches his eyebrows.

“We don’t have to,” Will says quietly. Maybe it’s because Mike doesn’t want to get teased; Will can understand that. “Actually, I’m a little thirsty.”

They make their way to the punch bowl, where Nancy tells Will that he looks great. They sip their punch and rib Nancy about how much she wants to dance with Jonathan. It ends in her rolling her eyes and pushing them away, claiming she has a job to do.

As one slow song fades into another, Will asks, “Are you sure you don’t want to dance?”

Mike’s lips quirk into a smile. “Okay, fine, it might be fun.”

Will’s heart flutters when Mike extends his hand dramatically. “Care to dance?”

“I would love to,” Will giggles, putting his hand in Mike’s. He feels warm and soft and Will never wants to let go.

The song is by The Police, and it isn’t _really_ a romantic song, but Will guesses that not everything can be perfect. Feeling Mike warily put his hands on Will’s hips is perfect enough on its own.

Mike’s expression is maybe not as serious as Will’s—he still has a hint of a joke behind his eyes—but it’s okay, because Will never believed he would end up here anyway, slow dancing with Mike Wheeler at the Snowball.

And then the door opens.

The direction Will is faced, he can’t see who enters, but he feels it in the way his stomach drops to his feet.

Mike is out of Will’s arms in a second, eyes wide and jaw slack. “El?”

+

“How’d it go?” Jonathan asks when he hears Will’s footsteps down the hallway.

Will wants nothing more than to run into his bedroom and bury himself in the blankets so no one has to see the shame written all over his face. Shame at thinking he ever had a chance, shame at believing Mike was over El, shame that he can’t put his friend’s happiness over his own selfish hopes.

Will pauses, his lip wobbling.

Jonathan appears in the doorway, taking in the sight of him. “Oh, Will,” his eyes reflect the sadness in Will’s, and for a moment, he feels lighter, a little less alone. “I’m sorry, buddy.”

Will blinks back the tears in his eyes and stays silent, because no words can possibly wrap the way he feels into a neat little package.

+

Will survived an entire week in the Upside Down, hiding from a demogorgon who wanted him for dinner. He became a shadow monster’s spy and had to have it burned out of him. He never expected _Mike Wheeler_ to be the thing that finally defeated him.

He’ll get through it, like he gets through everything else. For now, though, he lets himself hurt.

And he hopes, one more time, that El knows how lucky she is.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm... so sorry. This was supposed to be fluffy, I swear...  
> Comments would make me super super happy!  
> You can also find me at my [stranger things blog](http://www.scottsclarke.tumblr.com), where I'm taking prompts!


End file.
